Youngsters from 1st Liphook Scouts will be spreading Christmas cheer this weekend with their annual Christmas card delivery service.

It costs just 25p per card to send in the local area compared to the price of 65p for a first class stamp with Royal Mail or 56p for a second class stamp. You can send cards to Liphook, Bramshott, Passfield, Conford and Fernhurst.

Group Scout Leader Bryan Jackson said:
“The sight of Beavers, Cubs and Scouts delivering Christmas cards has become part of the festive traditions in Liphook. It’s a great fundraising opportunity for the group, with all money raised going towards the huge variety of activities we take part in over the year.

“Plus it’s great fun!”

The collection deadline is noon on Saturday (16th December) and there are post boxes all around the local area:

Youngsters from 1st Liphook Scouts are set to travel in style with a distinctive new red minibus, after their former bus finally had to be replaced after more than a decade of service.

The new transport cost nearly £16,000 and East Hampshire District Council gave the group a grant of £1000 to help with the expense.

The group hopes their new 17 seat transit will last another 15 years, and will take hundreds of local Beavers, Cubs and Scouts on many adventures including camps, walks and regional events. It has already been used to take Cubs to Clanfield Observatory to learn about the stars.

Group Scout Leader Bryan Jackson said: “We are very pleased with our new transport and we love the bright red colour, it means we really stand out.

“Our previous minibus had given us many years of faithful service but it became difficult to get new parts and so we had to make the decision to get a new one.”

He added: “Reliable vans aren’t cheap and so we had to dig deep into the coffers to make sure we got something that would really last. We are very grateful to EHDC for helping us get something that we hope will last for many years to come.”

East Hampshire District Councillor for Bramshott and Liphook Angela Glass said: “I am delighted that we were able to support such a worthwhile cause. 1st Liphook Scouts is a very active group that helps hundreds of local youngsters learn about all sorts of things from archery, canoeing, and climbing to how to sew a badge.

“Now they can ‘Be Prepared’ for even more fun and learning with the help of their new minibus.”

Exciting new challenges are waiting for a group of youngsters from 1st Liphook Scouts who are moving up to the next level of the group.

Dozens of Beavers, Cubs and Scouts celebrated achievements and looked to the future at the Moving Up Ceremony (held on Wednesday 12 July 2017) at the scout headquarters at Liphook’s Millenium Hall.

15 Beavers are moving up to be Cubs in September, 12 Cubs are moving up to be Scouts, and 6 Scouts will become Explorers.

Group Scout Leader Bryan Jackson said:
“It’s really gratifying to see so many young people enjoying the benefits of scouting in Liphook. It’s even better to know that they enjoy their time with us so much they stay with us through the various stages of scouting.

“Each of those who moved up in the ceremony was asked about their favourite memory so far – there were a lot of interesting answers, including canoeing, learning knots, and camps – even during hurricanes!”

A number of Chief Scouts Awards were also given out on the evening, one Bronze Award to a Beaver Scout and four Silver Awards to Cub Scouts. These are the highest awards that can be obtained in each of the sections.

Bryan Jackson added:
“We are a very busy group and most of our packs have waiting lists but it’s always worth getting in touch to see if we have any spaces. We’re always on the lookout for helpers too – you can still join in the fun even as a grownup by helping out at our meetings.”

1st Liphook Scouts are rivalling team GB for their impressive medal tally at a recent archery competition.

The weather may have been damp but the competition was hot at the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Scouts Archery Competition 2016, held in Lyons Copse, Shedfield (near Wickham) on 17th and 18th September.

Despite the number of competitors increasing and higher standards each year at the event, Liphook managed to win an incredible 15 medals – 6 gold, 3 silver and 6 bronze.

The team of 19 talented archers range in age from 8 year old Cub scouts to adult leaders and helpers.

Cub leader and archery co-ordinator Jez Turner said:
“The weather wasn’t great on Saturday, but fortunately our first event was ‘Field’ so we were in the shelter of the woods. In this event the U14’s shoot from one peg and the Over 14’s from another peg, further away from the target – at strategically positioned targets, uneven ground, trees, branches, ditches, tyres, logs and some small targets all make this event challenging but, at the same time fun. Some quite impressive scores were achieved by our archers and a couple of medals were also won – mainly to those that did well on the ‘dartboard’ target.

“A rest over lunch allowed us to get our bows ready for the ‘Target’ event, it was quite blustery on the target range, but that didn’t seem to effect some of our archers who scored incredibly well with some reaching over 300 out of a maximum of 360, and the rewards were a mix of Gold, Silver and bronze medals.

“After the target shoot, we came home and were back at Scout HQ at 7.30am on Sunday morning to go back in the minibus for the ‘Clout’ competition. This Agincourt style event involves the under 14’s shooting at a small flag 60 yards from the shooting line, whilst over 14’s are shooting at a flag the same size 100 yards away! This is not an easy event, but fun and the trick is to get your eye in early. Some pleasant surprises on the scores were welcomed by some of our archers and again we managed a couple of medals.”

He added:
“In all a great weekend, great company and a lot of laughs – well done to all involved!”

The next big event for the Liphook Scout Group Archery Club is the Scouts National Archery Competition Nationals in May 2017.

Liphook Scout Group’s Wheatsheaf Cub pack, today, competed in the Hampshire County 6 a side football competition. Having won the district Rodney Bishop tournament a couple of Weeks ago.

The weather was great today, and there were a lot of Cub packs, all representing their districts at the tournament. Four leagues commenced play at 10.00am, and each team were scheduled to play each other.

Liphook kicked off their league in the first game of the day, and having played 3 games we had won 2 and drawn 1, coming out as league winners and progressing to the Main Trophy knock out stages.

The Quarter final was a tough, well fought game, with the scores level after the final whistle, with 1 corner each – sudden death was now in action, with the first goal or corner scored, enough to send the winning team into the Semi-final, Liphook, played a great game and a superb golden goal took us to the semi-finals.

The Semi finals, again saw a superb game of passing and dribbling from the Liphook team, and a convincing 4 nil win, saw us, deservedly in the final.

Our young team, fought like troopers, but the older team from Odiham used their strength and managed to overcome the mighty mighty Liphook to win.

Runners up in the County Six a side, is a great achievement, the highest any Petersfield Representative side has finished. All the cubs from Wheatsheaf Pack and their parents helped make it a great day.

Over the weekends of 15th and 16th, 22nd and 23rd March, myself and Phelim from Downlands pack attened an Archery GB course so that we can teach archery. This means that the group has another two certified instructors that will add to our strengths in being able us to provide ongoing activitites for our group, without need to pay external people to do it.

Over the four days, we learnt about all the safety aspects in shooting an arrow and layout out ranges for competitions and ‘have a go’ sessions, as well as role play in teaching individuals and groups of all ages, abilities and capabilities. A stringent assessment was made on the last day, by two of Hampshires leading Archery assessors and I am pleased to say that both Phelim and I passed!

Despite it being a four day course, the time flew at Lyons Copse, with a great bunch of leaders from as far as Newbury, Swindon, Andover and Kent and the team of coaches led by Tim Beeching, were fantastic, making it an enjoyable learning experience.

On Friday 21st March, Oakhanger and Wheatsheaf packs had a joint evening combining a Night Hike and Sleep over.

We met at HQ and dropped the overnight gear off and with the help of parents and Stuart to drive the leaders to the starting point at Whitely’s in Stanford, we hiked back via Passfield Common, over the A3 having walked through Conford, toward Longmoor Road. We then walked back along Longmoor Road to the HQ.

A good number of Cubs also stayed for the sleep over, enjoying a late night movie, hot chocolate and hot dogs.

Fortunately we made it back to HQ before the heavens opened.

A big thank you to the leaders and parents who walked with us, helping us keep the cubs together and crossing the roads safely.